Since its inception in September of 1904, Longwood GAA has experienced its fair share of ups and downs. Club secretary George Stagg pointed Royal County in the direction of 'club historian' James Farrell to find out more. Compiling a club history can be a long and arduous task. Endless hours of research, and an abundance of patience, is required to complete a comprehensive and informative profile of the club in bygone days. James Farrell of Lionsden in Longwood doesn't need to be told this as he currently finds himself in that position as he attempts to chronicle the development of the local club since its formation in the early part of the last century. In 2004, Longwood GAA club will be celebrating its centenary year. So how will the year 2000 be portrayed in the history of Longwood GAA club? The senior hurlers provided much to cheer about en route to qualifying for the championship semi-final but unfortunately their run came to an end there as Kilmessan defeated them by 1-12 to 1-6 at Trim in the middle of August. "From a hurling perspective, the year was quite successful," replied James. "At the start of the year the ambition would have been to win the championship, but staying senior was the main objective. "While losing to Kilmessan was a tremendous disappointment it was a great achievement to reach the semi' and it gives great encouragement for next year. The start of next year's championship probably can't come quick enough for us at this stage!" Could Longwood have defeated Kilmessan? "There was one incident in the first half which I remember when the ball failed to bounce right for Tony Healy who had a great opportunity for a goal. It just needed a tap into the goal but the ball just bounced away from Tony. "Soon afterwards Kilmessan got a goal against the run of play and that just really summed up Longwood's day. It was a game which we could have won but, in the end, Kilmessan's greater experience paid off for them. They were better at engineering space in front of the goals and picking off their scores. "In saying that though, our lads will have learned a lot from that game and should be a better team next year as a result." James continued: "Two very good hurlers came into the club this year, Mick Hogan from Tipperary and Sean Carey from Dublin. Both were great additions to the team." The story of football in the south Meath village during the twelve months just coming to an end doesn't make for as pleasant reading though. "To be quite honest the junior football team was a big disappointment," remarked James. "In recent years we have had a very good, promising team but for some reason this year was an exception. For example, we had to give Kells a walkover in the championship. Our second team, however, enjoyed a very good run in Division 4 of the Reserve League and there was some very talented, young players on that team so hopefully they can make an impression with the first team in the coming years." One of the most promising up and coming players in Longwood at the moment is Michael Burke jnr., son of well known Longwood publican, Michael 'Stoney' Burke. Incidentally, 'Stoney' has the distinction of having played gaelic games in a remarkable seven decades! He played with his native Kilcloon in the 40s and 50s before arriving in Longwood in 1964. He briefly came out of retirement earlier this year when the footballers were short the full quota and he played in goals. "He's claiming seven decades anyway so we have to give him the benefit of the doubt as there's not too many people around who can remember the 1940s!," laughs James. For his own part, James started playing, football and hurling, with the club in the early sixties and his sole reward was an U14 football medal. "That's all I can remember winning anyway," recalled the affable Farrell. "I wouldn't say that I played, more like I togged out. I wasn't much good," he added modestly. Both men missed out on what James describes as the "Golden Era" of the south Meath club, namely the period 1935 to 1945. The "Golden Era" of Longwood GAA club yielded a junior hurling title in 1933, a senior hurling championship success in 1936, a Feis Cup hurling and junior football double in 1939 and an intermediate football triumph in 1942. The latter was shrouded in controversy however. James takes up the story: "We were done out of a junior football title in 1936 and we should have been playing senior football in 1943. "There was a player in Longwood at the time called Hugh Bird but he was named on the official team list as Hubert. We beat Dunshaughlin in the junior final of '36 but they subsequently appealed to the Meath County Board who agreed with them. "Fr McManus, who was President of our club and trainer of the team at the time, appealed the decision to the Leinster Council who also ruled against us but said that a replay should be played. The Meath County Board, however, refused. "The exact same situation arose when we won the Intermediate in 1942 but we're still down as being the Intermediate champions of that year in the record books. The whole saga became known as the 'Is is Hugh or is it Hubert' affair." James' father, Peter, who was popularly known as "The Joker" Farrell played with Longwood during that era. While all things pertaining to the history of Longwood GAA club obviously interest James, he says he prefers to look to the future rather than the past. "The future looks good," he stated. "We have a nice pitch and clubhouse here while we recently got a new electronic scoreboard, which was kindly sponsored by local developers, Tierney Bros. We've a good lot of talented underage players in both hurling and football. The likes of George Stagg, Peter Navan and Tony Healy are doing great work with the underage. We also have an excellent ladies committee too. The club has various plans for the years ahead so it should be said that we're in good shape at the moment." Tweet

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